MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL
a division of the
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Troop G - 1226 W. Bus. 60/63, Willow Springs, MO 65793


News Release

For further information please contact: Sergeant Jeff Kinder
(417) 469-3121, ext. 3735
G-05142
May 12, 2014

EMPHASIS: Homicide Suspects Arrested In Arkansas


In the evening hours of May 10, 2014, troopers of the Missouri State Highway Patrol were called to assist the Shannon County Sheriff's Department with an investigation in rural Shannon County near Eminence, Missouri. Responding officers determined an altercation led to the stabbing death of Clyde L. Wagner Jr., 47, of Winona, Missouri. During the investigation, two persons of interest were identified. Arrest warrants were obtained for the suspects by the Shannon County Sheriff's Department. Investigators developed information which led officers to a location in Fordyce, Arkansas. On May 11, 2014, Arkansas authorities took both suspects into custody. They are identified as:

Sammy L. Crabtree, 32, Mountain View, Missouri, has been charged with murder in the second degree in Shannon County.

Robert E. Ballance, 38, Winona, Missouri, has been charged with murder in the second degree and armed criminal action in Shannon County.

Both subjects are being held without bond in the Dallas County Jail in Fordyce, Arkansas. A trooper from the Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control has traveled to Arkansas to continue the investigation. Extradition proceedings are scheduled.

The charges for which Crabtree and Ballance were arrested are mere accusations and are not evidence of guilt. Evidence in support of the charges must be presented before a court of competent jurisdiction whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

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